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A Few Words from Pastor Bryan
...and Brian McLaren & My daughter Emma Ceurvels
This past summer I led a songwriting workshop with my friend and author Brian McLaren at the Wild Goose Christian Music Festival in North Carolina. I’ve shared numerous quotes from Brian’s books in sermons and in our morning devotional group meetings. Most recently I’ve been sharing excerpts from Brian’s new book on facing and dealing with the realities of climate change. The rather blunt title of the book gives away the fact that Brian is extremely concerned about what is now upon us. The book is called, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage For A World Falling Apart.
But these “Few Words From Pastor Bryan” are not about Climate Change. At least not directly.
Climate Change is just one of the sources of stress and anxiety that we're all facing these days. The damage and heartache from the hurricanes we've just witnessed is overwhelming.
But again, I’m not writing about climate change. In fact I’m writing to share some words of hope and resilience in response to the myriad of reasons why so many people are feeling a heavy sense of foreboding these days. It’s less than a month until the November elections. Enough said.
So I'll get to the point.
This past week, on the afternoon that Hurricane Milton was on its way to Florida, I listened to the predictions of what was about to happen. That sense of a dangerous storm on the way, and the scurrying around to do what can be done to prepare even though you know there’s no stopping what’s coming struck me on a metaphorical level. That’s kind of how so many of us are feeling these days. We don’t want to be negative. We don’t want to give too much voice or airtime to all the things that feel threatening. We’re tired of negativity. And yet when a storm is on the way, denial and downplaying are not wise in the least.
As I was feeling this sense of hard times coming on the day of Milton’s arrival, my daughter Emma sent me a new musical idea she’d come up with on the piano. That’s how she and I often co-write. She gets a musical idea, plays a bit of it and sings the melody without words, sends it to me, and asks me to put lyrics to it. The music she sent earlier this week was perfect for the mood I was in as I thought about the storms on the way.
And of course we all have our own personal lives and journeys as well. Our heartbreaks and losses. Relationships full of questions and surprises and uncertainty. Living in the aftermath of the death of a loved one. Facing illnesses that are serious and potentially terminal. There are lots of different kinds of “storm clouds” on the horizons of our lives.
During that songwriting workshop with Brian McLaren, we decided to write a song based on the content of Brian’s latest book. Most of the participants had read the book, and probably were at the workshop primarily to spend time with Brian more than anything. So I asked Brian what, after all he’d researched and processed and written, would be a message he would want to put into a song that might be helpful for us to be singing at this point in history. Without hesitation, he said that he’d realized that almost everything he has to say could be summed up in one sentence, and that he wished he’d ended the book with this. And here’s what he said.
“I don’t know what the future holds, but I know how I’m going to show up.”
And how is that? Brian said, “I’m going to show up with as much love for everything and everyone as possible, no matter what happens. And somehow that keeps me grounded and gives me hope. I’m going to be an instrument of love no matter what happens. That much is in my control. That much can never be taken from me by anyone or anything. I will show up with Love.”
Such a powerful and grounding statement.
So I stole Brian’s line and idea and came up with some lyrics for Emma’s music. Here’s a link to the clip Emma sent me with the first draft of the lyrics I added. The lyrics are below if you'd rather just read them, but they're meant to be sung. Don’t tell her I shared her rough "not ready for prime time" clip with you. It wasn't meant for public consumption. But she has no idea how powerful her music is... (of course I’m a little biased, but not really).
I think this is a song worth singing these days. The first time I sang the lyrics along with the audio Emma sent led to a pretty good cry for me. A cleansing cry of resolve and resilience. Sometimes the soulful shedding of tears is the most sacred, powerful, and effective thing any of us can do.
Here’s to all we’re facing that is beyond our control and that feels threatening and uncertain—may God enable and equip us to keep showing up with Love.
See you in November,
Pastor Bryan
Choosing Love
By Emma Ceurvels & Bryan Sirchio
When circumstances are threatening and heavy
It feels like a storm’s rolling in
We board up the windows, and fill up the sandbags
But there is no stopping this wind
When there’s so much beyond our control
There is one thing we always can know
Though we cannot predict what may happen
We can choose how we will show up
We are choosing Love
Love for everything, and for everyone
We will pray and find strength to take action
Find the courage to laugh once again
We are choosing Love
We are choosing Love
When we’re uncertain of what we can hope for
Or what information to trust
The damage that’s forecast, the losses predicted
And will what remains be enough?
But no matter what hard times we face
There’s a choice that we always can make
Chorus
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